( chapter eight ! )
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𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲
Robin's head was spinning when she walked back to the farm, leaving Daryl behind in the woods.
A weird, unexplainable sadness twisted its way into her heart, and as much as she liked to deny it, she knew exactly where it came from. Robin balled her hands into fists, clenching them so tightly, red crescent moons formed in the skin of her palms. Hershel was right. She was starting to warm up to Daryl, and she hated it.
She hated it because, as he had just clarified, he didn't give two damns about her. He couldn't care less if Hershel allowed him to stay or not. He didn't care about Robin, and he didn't care whether she was in his life or not. But she was starting to care.
Robin stopped halfway to the barn, glancing over her shoulder. She didn't see Daryl leaving the woods, so she didn't know whether he had already come out or was still just beyond the border of trees. A sigh passed her lips. Why did Hershel have to be right all the time? Damn him.
Getting lost in her thoughts, she started walking again. Screw Daryl, she needed to find Rick. The most important thing right now was making sure Lori and her baby would be okay, and it wasn't like Daryl could help with that. But if Rick would be able to convince Hershel that all of them could stay, that would work out well enough.
At least then Robin could figure out whether she actually liked Daryl or whether it was just her brain tricking her into thinking she did.
Lori came up to her, wearing an apologetic smile. She put her hand on her chest and shook her head. "Robin. I am so, so sorry–"
"No," Robin cut her off before she even had the chance to apologize further for something that wasn't even her fault. She stopped in front of the pregnant woman, shaking her head. "You don't have to apologize. What happened is not your fault. If anything, it should be Shane."
Lori sighed. She prepped her hands on her hips and looked at her feet. "It... might be my fault."
That meant Shane knew about the pregnancy. And he also knew about the possibility that the baby was his. That made things more difficult. He wouldn't leave voluntarily, then, probably holding on to the hope that it really was his.
Robin gritted her teeth and sighed. She, too, looked to the ground, if only briefly. Then, she took a step toward Lori and took her hands. "Listen, I'm not gonna let Hershel send you away. The others, I'm not responsible for them–"
"You're not responsible for me," Lori argued.
"But if I do nothing and something happens to your baby because Hershel sent you away, I would be responsible for that," Robin murmured. She sighed. "And after what happened with Sophia—after your people spent all this time looking for her when she was in the barn the whole time, it's the least I can do."
A thankful smile unfolded on Lori's face. She squeezed Robin's hand. "Thank you, Robin, I don't know what–"
"Robin!" Glenn came running out of the farmhouse and toward the two women standing somewhere between him and the barn.
At hearing her name, Robin spun around. Glenn's eyes were wide, his voice filled with panic. He sprinted toward them and only stopped once he was close enough. Between heavy breaths, he said, "It's Beth. Something's wrong with her."
Robin barged into Beth's room to find Maggie leaning over their youngest sister, who just stared straight up at the ceiling.
"Sweetie, can you hear me?" Maggie whispered.
Lori halted in the doorway, but Robin rushed into the room, only coming to a stop when she stood next to Maggie. Beth didn't reply or made any indication that she had heard the question. She stared straight ahead as if she was in some sort of trance.
"What's wrong with her?" Robin breathed.
"She might be in shock. Where's Hershel?" Lori retorted.
Glenn crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall, shaking his head. "We can't find him anywhere."
Lori looked at Glenn for a few more moments then left the room to get Rick and Shane. Maggie joined the two, assisting them in trying to find her father while Robin stayed by Beth's side. The problem was that she didn't know what was happening to the girl, and she didn't know how to help. And then again, she hated being helpless and doing nothing when there was probably something that could be done.
But the day just faded slowly, and shortly before dinner, Maggie came back to tell her that Rick and Glenn had gone out to look for Hershel. They assumed he had gone into the bar in town, going back to his old drinking habits.
Robin had never seen Hershel drink. In fact, she had never even seen a bottle of liquor anywhere around the house, and the one time Shawn had brought one home with him from a party, Hershel had scolded him.
"He gave up drinking the moment I was born," Maggie explained to Robin now, running her fingers through Beth's blonde hair. "I think he might've been scared that he'd relapse if he just had one drop of alcohol, that's why he didn't allow it in the house."
Robin sat on the chair in the corner of Beth's room, her hands folded in her lap. She smiled. "That explains why he got so mad when Shawn brought the liquor into the house."
Maggie chuckled. "Yeah, it does."
Outside, the world was getting darker. The sun started to drop behind the horizon. Time passed quickly, but Rick and Glenn didn't come back, and neither did Hershel. Robin glanced outside many times, but she didn't see Daryl anywhere, either—just Shane and T-Dog starting to clean up the pile of Walkers outside the barn.
And after a few hours, once the sun had fully set, Andrea came into the room and told the sisters, "Dinner's ready."
Maggie followed Robin and Andrea downstairs with the promise to bring Beth some food later. They entered the dining room, but it felt weirdly empty because Rick, Glenn and Hershel still hadn't returned. And apparently Daryl had run off to somewhere, too, because he wasn't here, either.
"They should've been back by now," Andrea commented.
She sat down beside Dale, leaving a seat empty for Robin right next to Shane, who sat at the head of the table. Reluctantly, Robin sat down on the chair next to him, reaching for the bread Patricia had placed in the center of the table.
Robin took a bite out of the bread. Carol passed by her and rested her hand on the brunette's shoulder. "Robin, honey, would you mind finding Daryl and telling him dinner's ready?"
"Nah," Robin said with a mouthful, shaking her head. "Daryl's a big boy. If he's hungry, he can come back by himself."
Her gaze shifted to Maggie, who cocked a brow. Carol sighed but didn't argue. She moved to the door which led to the living room and called inside, "Lori, dinner."
Maggie turned around and shook her head. "She's not in there."
Dale drew his brows together and leaned forward. "Where is she?"
Nobody had an answer to that, but most everybody had a suspicion where she was—where she had gone. Robin exchanged a look with Andrea before both of them glanced at Shane. He brought his attention to the kid at the table and asked, "Carl, when's the last time you saw your mom?"
"This afternoon," he replied.
"She was worried about Rick, asked me to look in on Carl," Andrea added.
Robin whipped her head around. "She went after them?"
"She didn't say that." Andrea shook her head.
Shane tossed his napkin onto the table and got up from his chair. "Nobody panic. Gonna be around here somewhere." He looked at Robin and raised his eyebrows. "Now, can you find Daryl? Ask him if he's seen her?"
Robin swallowed her pride and nodded.
She went outside, and she didn't have to look long until she found Daryl. He had made himself a bonfire just off the farm grounds. Smoke rose into the air, telling Robin exactly where to find him. And even though he heard her approaching, he couldn't get himself to care enough to face her.
"Have you seen Lori? We can't find her anywhere, and the others aren't back yet, either," Robin explained when she came to a stop a few feet behind Daryl.
Daryl was holding a rather big branch between his hands, using it to poke around in the fire he had made. A low, humorless chuckle escaped his lips as he slowly shook his head. "That dumb bitch must've gone off looking for them."
"What?" Robin breathed.
"Yeah, she asked me to go." He turned his head, briefly glancing at Robin before he turned his attention back on the fire. "I told her I was done bein' an errand boy."
"What?" Robin asked again, this time more firmly. Daryl glanced at her, unsure if she asked because she hadn't heard him or because she was shocked. Based on her expression, he figured it was the latter. "And you didn't say anything? Are you crazy? You can't just let a pregnant woman go out by herself especially at night."
Daryl got up and spun around to face her. He shook his head. "I didn't know she would go out on her own."
"Rick is out there—the father of her child is out there. Of course she's gonna go herself if you won't," Robin hissed.
"Is he the father of her child, though?" Daryl extended his arm, pointing past her. "Because from what I hear, that thing inside her might be Little-Shane, for all we know."
"God, why are you like this?" Robin shook her head.
"Why do you even care?" Daryl spat.
"Because–" She clamped her mouth shut and set her jaw. She would like to know the answer to that, too. Why did she care? Maybe because his stubbornness could possibly be dangerous for Lori? Sure, that was one factor, but not the entire truth.
She just stared back at him for several moments, trying to come up with a plausible answer for him and for herself. There was nothing about Daryl that screamed, 'I'm friendly, and we should be friends'. There was nothing about him that made her want to like him, but there was something about him that made her like him anyway—even if only a tiny bit.
When she didn't have an answer for him, Daryl got real close and quietly said, "Listen, princess, you ain't my problem, and I ain't yours. I understand that you got some kinda savior complex, but I don't need to be saved. I ain't whoever's problems you're projecting on me."
There it was. This was her answer—James.
She couldn't think of anything to say to argue with that. She didn't even have it in herself to counter with something sarcastic or witty. Somehow, she had managed to keep James off her mind for the last few days, and now she knew why.
Robin let her head hang. "You're right. I'm sorry."
Daryl's face fell. He blinked in confusion. He had expected her to argue with him or at least find a way to subtly insult him in return. But it seemed that he had struck a nerve even though it hadn't been his intention.
When Robin started to walk away, Daryl wanted to stop her. But he doubted it would be much use, so he just let her go.
I don't know why this chapter turned out so short but oh well